Govt. of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
Directorate General of Export Promotion
Circular No. 30/2009-Cus
New Delhi, the 22nd October, 2009
All Chief Commissioners of Customs/Central Excise,
All Commissioners of Customs /Central Excise.
Madam /Sir
Sub: Procedure and guidelines for import of diamonds for certification and
grading and re-export thereof - reg.
A new scheme under paragraph 4A.2 has been introduced in the Foreign Trade
Policy 2009-2014 (FTP) for import of diamonds for certification and grading and
re-export thereof. Procedure in this regard has also been specified under
paragraph 4A.14 of Handbook of Procedure Volume I (HBP). To avoid dichotomy in
following the procedure by the field formations for allowing import of diamonds
for the specified purpose and re-export thereof, the salient feature of this
scheme and procedure in this regard are laid down.
- This scheme is presently allowed to the authorized offices/ agencies in India of
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in India only;
- GIA shall furnish a general bond to the satisfaction of the Asstt./ Dy
Commissioner of Customs at the port of import, undertaking to properly account
for the diamonds, to follow the specified procedure and to re-export diamonds
within the prescribed period;
- The import shall be allowed under bill of entry having the detailed description
of the diamonds, including inter alia, the dimensions, weight, colour, caratage,
specification, approximate value etc of each piece of diamonds;
- The bill of entry should carry the endorsement “only for certification and
grading”;
- GIA, while taking the diamonds in their unit, shall allot a unique ’control
number’ for identification purposes and maintain a separate account for such
diamonds;
- After the grading/certification, the diamonds shall be re-exported under a
shipping bill containing the detailed description as was mentioned at the time
of import;
- Cross reference of B/E shall be endorsed in the shipping bill;
- The onus of certification shall solely rest with the GIA, i.e. the diamonds
being re-exported are the same as those imported. GIA shall submit a certificate
to this effect, along with the S/B, at the time of re-export;
- GIA shall obtain GR waiver in respect of import and re-export as per the
procedure laid down by RBI and realize the foreign exchange for the service
charges in terms of RBI guidelines;
- The premises of GIA can be visited by Custom officers for surprise audit or
checks. The Commissioner should devise a system of random audit at least twice a
year;
- The diamonds imported for certification/grading are to be re-exported within a
period of 3 months from the date of import;
- The importer shall submit a quarterly statement by 25th of the month succeeding
quarter. The statement should reflect the B/E No. & date, details of diamonds
and details of re-exports etc; and
- Re-export shall be allowed only from the port through which import took place.
2. Wide publicity may please be given to these instructions by way of issuance
of Public/Trade Notice. Suitable Standing orders/instruction may be issued for
guidance of the field officers. Difficulties, if any, in implementation of these
instructions, may be brought to the notice of the Directorate General of Export
Promotion.
3. This issues with the approval of Central Board of Excise & Customs.
4. Receipt of this circular may kindly be acknowledged.
Yours faithfully
Sd/-
(Praveen Mahajan)
Director General
F.No.: DGEP/G&J/428/2006
Copy for information to:
PS to Chairman, CBEC, New Delhi
PS to all Members of the CBEC, New Delhi
All Director Generals under CBEC,
Chief Departmental Representative (CDR), Delhi
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